admin

Aug 012008
 

This was the view the night before we actually moved everything. I was getting to a point where I would look at the boxes and only wanted to push them into the hallway. I felt as if my world had become entirely surrounded by brown cardboard.

The Night Before

It took me significantly longer to get this first post up than I thought it would. Mostly because I was either packing a box, carrying a box, cleaning the now empty apartment, or lying on the floor exhausted from doing those other things.

I was actually terrified of touching my iPhone for the most part, because I was covered in sweat, or moving grime, or rubber gloves with cleaning solution on them. But at long last I’m geting things updated.

But it has for the most part been completed. Special thanks to the mountain of people who showed up to help on Thursday:

  • Sean
  • Aalok
  • Gareth
  • Amber
  • Jay
  • Nate
  • Shira
  • Wes

Despite one rain delay, we managed to pack everything into the truck within about 1.75 hours. The rain delay only slowed us a bit. We continued moving stuff from the apartment into the basement of the building. From that moment forward I spent most of my time in the truck trying to manage the delegue of apartment materials that flowed into the back of the truck.

I wish I’d gotten a photo of the loaded truck. Between all of the people and an intense desire to have a beer prevented me from making and extra trip from the apartment to the back of the building to take said photo though. It was at this point that more beer was consumed but only a few snacks munched.

The cats are completely traumatized, though starting to feel better now that I’ve put the mattress down. We have one more night here at the apartment (and one last night) and Andrea’s mom arrives this afternoon, so a simple air mattress just wouldn’t cut it.

So now of course that the apartment is empty, instead of whining about having too many boxes around I can whine about not having anywhere to sit. An equally problematic situation. Kim, Mike, and the girls also stopped by to say hello and goodbye. Unfortunately they missed Andrea as she ran off to Frisbee-game (aka. “Ultimate” – She’s a hockey player, so she says if there isn’t any hitting, it can’t really be all that ultimate).

I have also been instructed that my blogging the event has been less than stellar, a critique which I will take to heart as I continue the journey. I hope only that I’ll have access to more hands than I did up until now. Tomorrow we drive.

Jul 292008
 

I love my iPhone 3G. Sure, I’ve got some gripes about Apple policies and the current state of the iPhone SDK, iPhone OS, and iPhone NDA, but it probably one of the most single useful gadgets I’ve ever owned. The only real downside to it is that I feel like I’ve got it plugged into my Mac ALL THE TIME. Not because I’m an iTunes junkie mind you, but because it was always running out of battery power. Now, just for the record, before my iPhone I was using a Motorola RAZR V3, which doesn’t have great battery life, but nor is it a total slacker.

So I started trying to determine what was eating up so much battery. Continue reading »

Jul 242008
 

One of the things I’ve realized about blogging in general is that for the most part, I don’t have the patience or discipline for it.

So, the question is, will my iPhone and the host of applications available for it make a difference? I’m going to experiment with several different tools on our upcoming trek to Georgia. If it goes well, maybe then I’ll find my inner blogger.

Jul 152008
 

Well, I have no idea how MANY iPhone 3Gs Apple sold yesterday (I know now that 1 Million is the proper number), but I was one of the folks who bought one. Now before you go getting all anti-consumer on me and telling me how it’s evil white boys like me who are bringing down society. This has been a planned purchase for a while. Not only that, my lovely Mother-in-Law gifted me the iPhone for my graduation present. She listened to my iPhone ranting and granted my wish. I love the iPhone UI and I said as soon as it had 3G and GPS, I’d get one, no matter the price. Thankfully (as you’ll see below) it wasn’t that expensive. Well, like the folks in NYC, Boston, and other municipalities, I was out bright and early yesterday hoping to get one. I arrived at the Albany Crossgates Mall at about 5AM. I was under the impression that I would have no difficulties getting my phone from the Apple Store there, having called on several occasions to make sure that they could handle people like me, those “non-upgrade eligible customers” who would be forced to pay $499 (the original price for the 16GB iPhone) rather than $299. I had been assured I would be fine.

I talked to the folks around me. Watched Harry Potter (yes, I’m a dork) on my PSP and read from 5AM to around 7AM. About this time I took up the sport of watching the hired police officers and security guards set up an airport style snaking line barricade system. Eventually they even very successfully cut off the line and moved those people into the snaking “s”. By 7:30AM Apple Store employees were going around handing out water (coffee would have been nice), pamphlets, and making sure we had our IDs, etc.

At 8AM the first 13 of us (I guess it was supposed to be 15, but a few employees were getting into gear) were filed into the store. I was number 11. “Sweet,” I thought to myself as I went in, “I bet I’ll even be out of here by 8:30AM.” I suspect it was that thought that altered my trajectory into user/consumer hell. Continue reading »

Nov 291999
 

A funny thing happened during Paul Ledak’s (of IBM) keynote at iDMAa today. He was ultimately talking about the promise of game spaces to become new distribution platforms. Of course he understood that this requires a very different model of production than the videogame industry currently opperates under. To deal with this, he mentioned an “emerging interoptability” movement that IBM is participating in. What I found so particularly interesting about this is that during the question and answer session I mentioned how console manufacturers are so invested in closed systems.

His response was to talk about how cable television companies were working together to create open systems. After the presentation I approached him, asking if I could get a copy of those slides. His response was that he couldn’t because they were closed. …

So, it’s a closed open standard? What in the world? Perhaps it will be opened later? The whole concept of open standards and platforms is that many eye are a good thing. Ultimately it is this same mentality that prevents the maturation of the videogame industry. So this emerging interoptability is going to kill itself before it is even developed by the vested interest in secrecy.

Now, I know that there are many companies which find openness troubling, but it is crucial to long term viability and stability.

 Posted by at 8:00 pm  Tagged with: